Wow, I havn't heard the name Smith's since I moved to the midwest. I have heard however that Kroger does own the Smith's chain now.

06-30-2008

JediTricks

Kroeger is the 3rd largest retailer in the country after Wal-mart and Home Depot, above Costco, Target, and Kmart/Sears. Scary!

There used to be a Smitty's Grocery next to my apartment in Arizona, they were a nifty store with more than just food, but way more expensive than the Mega Foods I worked at down the road. Smitty's got bought by Smith's, and a year later Smith's got bought by Fred Meyer, who 2 years later got bought by Kroeger.

06-30-2008

Blue2th

Yeah, all the budget food in Smith's is Kroeger brand. I didn't know they were the third largest retailer. I find some stuff there cheaper than Walmart (they are not the low price leader on everything) other stuff not. What's convenient is one Smith's is right next door to Walmart, around the corner is Target. So I do a lot of hopping from one store to the next. I use coupons too. The one who has the best deal within reason gets my money. Keeping in mind the negative aspects of shopping at Walmart is not necessarily where I would do the majority of my shopping anyways.

06-30-2008

Bel-Cam Jos

Up in Reno where I was last week, there were some stations selling 85 octane gas for about $.10 cheaper. Had a couple of news reports there whether it was good to put in your tank or not (they were non-commital but cautious).

07-01-2008

JediTricks

Kroeger is the second-largest food seller in the nation after Wal-mart. :p

07-01-2008

Jedi_Kal-El

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediTricks

Kroeger is the second-largest food seller in the nation after Wal-mart. :p

I like Kroger because they usually have great weekly deals on things like soda, milk , etc. I do most of my grocery shopping there and at Aldi. Though I do pick some things up from Wal-Mart that might not be cheaper elsewhere.

Also, to get in tune with the topic. Kroger has deals on gas as most big retail food chains with gas stations do when you purchase X amount of groceries.

Wal-Marts with gas stations on the other hand(at least in my area)have gas for at least 10 to 15 cents cheaper than most places.

07-02-2008

JediTricks

Finally found gas today that was under $4.5x, it was $4.45, then a few blocks later it was $4.47 (same chain, different sides of the street). I filled up, came to $50 and change, so I took full advantage of the squeegee and free air. :p (The car needed both, the tires were 2 lbs low each because I had lowered them from the insane amount the mechanic put in while they were hot; and the air in LA leaves orange dust all over windshields after a short amount of time.)

I prefer my groceries from Ralphs, they're a local chain owned by Kroeger, they have a reputation for being the expensive store, but they're actually pretty much the same or cheaper than the others (Albertons and Vons), and Ralphs is a cleaner, nicer store that takes better care of their backroom stock (very important for frozen food), has better produce, and has nicer house brand products (though Kroeger's been pushing some of the Ralphs products out lately).

07-02-2008

Bel-Cam Jos

Got gas for $4.41 today. I just put in $20 (had to be cash to get that price... didn't even see the credit card price listed anywhere) at an ARCO. And on the save-some-cents deal with groceries, I haven't seen any of those around me (but I mainly shop just at Stater Bros., a local So Cal chain that has pretty darn good prices most of the time).

07-02-2008

jedi master sal

Woot, I got gas for $3.62/gal. yesterday. Then again, I had 37 cents off per gallon using my "Fuel Perks" discount from my local grocery chain. Giant Eagle, is the name of the grocery chain, in case anyone is curious. Number 21 of North American Food Retailers and the 32nd largest privately held corporation overall. It was powerful enough to kick Kroeger's butt out of town.

07-08-2008

Tycho

I'm just going to second JediTricks' appreciation for Ralph's.

That's been my grocery store of choice for most of my life actually.

Uh...is there anything pathetic about that statement? Hope not.

But yes, for JT's reasons, it's a good store. Vons is less conveniently located down here by me (depends where in San Diego you live though - I'm sure Ralph's is inconvenient for others). Albertson's has even fewer locations.

I think Albertson's has the cheapest prices, but they were harder to get to.

I pay no attention to giftcard gimmicks for gas or toys. If I need groceries, I need groceries. I don't compound the issues, nor do I care if I lose out on $5 savings here or there. It doesn't make a difference in the end scheme of things to nickel and dime everything and spend time worrying about it (IMO).